There might not be an Officer Kriss Kringle on staff at the Windsor Police Department, but that didn’t stop the department from spreading Christmas cheer this holiday season.

As part of the long-running Santa Cops program, Windsor police officers helped deliver presents to 30 families in the area who might not have been able to afford gifts otherwise.

Lt. Richard Higuera has been with Windsor police for more than 20 years and said the department has participated in Santa Cops as long as he could remember.

“I like seeing the kids smile,” Higuera said of his favorite part of Santa Cops. “Some might not have had anything otherwise for Christmas. It’s gratifying that they do get something.”

The program exists in both Weld and Larimer counties, but Windsor’s efforts are coordinated through Weld, with two officers in Evans and Greeley running the show, WPD Special Dayshift Officer Josh Dunworth said.

According to Dunworth, gifts are donated and wrapped by Weld County volunteers and sorted into different age ranges. Windsor police officers then pick up the presents and go on deliveries across Windsor, giving them to families who have been referred through forms collected at schools.

Early last week, Dunworth said the department only had about nine or 10 more presents to deliver. Officers usually try to get all of the presents to the right families by the week before Christmas, Dunworth said.

“We all help out,” Dunworth said of the officers’ delivery schedule. “A lot of them really enjoy doing the drop-offs. What we do is important.”